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On Dashami, Jammu housewife kills jihadi with axe

Sanjay Khajuria, TNN 29 September 2009, 12:55am IST

JAMMU: As the country bid farewell to goddess Durga, the demon-slayer, on Dashami and witnessed the evil king Ravana being vanquished on Dussehra, a humble Muslim woman in a remote Jammu village slew a dreaded Lashkar terrorist single-handedly. ( Watch Video )

Exhibiting astonishing, raw courage, Rashida Begum took on the two terrorists who had barged into her home late Sunday night in Thana Mandi village in Rajouri district. The woman, in her early forties, grabbed an axe and swung it wildly, killing one of the armed terrorists and injuring the other. Seeing his partner meet a bloody end, the other terrorist fled in sheer dread.

A Rajouri-based police officer said the two terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group that carried out the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, had entered Noor Ahmad’s home around 9pm with the intention of holding the family hostage.

Police said the two also wanted information on some local targets that Noor and his family members refused to provide. Angered by the resistance, the two began beating them up, threatening to eliminate the family, when Noor’s wife, Rashida, took them by surprise, pouncing on one of them from behind. She brought down an axe in powerful blows, killing the Pakistani (Suspected) terrorist on the spot.She then charged at his partner who, nonplussed, was trying to gather his wits. Rashida and the rest of the family members soon overpowered him and snatched his weapon. However, the terrorist escaped under the cover of darkness, but not before receiving sharp cuts in the face-off with the furious housewife.

Rajouri’s additional superintendent of police Shabir Ahmed said investigations were on establish to identity of the duo but the slain terrorist was believed to be Osama, a Pakistan-based LeT commander, wanted in many cases of extortion and terror related activities. “We are awaiting more details from the spot where a police team is carrying out further investigation,” Ahmed said. Security forces are combing the area for the escaped terrorist.

Rajouri, September 28, 2009// http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090929/j&k.htm#9In a rare act of bravery, a 20-year-old girl, along with her brother, axed a militant to death in Kalsian village of Upper Shahdara area of Thanamandi, late last night. The slain militant is believed to be a commander of Laskar-e-Toiba militant outfit.

Police sources said Rukhsana along with her younger brother Ajaz Ahmed (18) after seeing their parents – Noor Muhammad and Rasheeda Begum – and uncle Walayat Hussain being roughed up by three militants entered into a scuffle with them.

In the melee, the girl killed one of the militants with an axe and injured the others, who later fled.

“At around 10.00 pm a group of three militants knocked at the door of Noor Muhammad’s house. Since he did not open the door, the militants entered his brother Walayat Hussain’s house and forced their way into Noor’s house with his help. They later started to beat them up. However, Rukhsana mustered courage and attacked them with an axe,” said a local from the area.

The third militant, who was unarmed, carried his injured partner back and left the body behind.

Source added that the father and uncle of Rukhsana also managed to snatch the AK rifles from the militants.

Later, they handed over the weapons as well as the body to the police. A police personnel has been deployed for the security of the family.

Immediately after the incident, intercepts by the security forces revealed that the slain militant was named Osama and was a commander with the LeT outfit sponsored by Pakistani Jehadi Network.

“We are investigating the matter. If what the locals are claiming is right, we will recommend the girl for a bravery award,” said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of police, Rajouri-Poonch range, SD Singh Jamwal.

JAMMU, Sept 28: Displaying extra ordinary courage, a young duo of brother and sister gunned down a Jaish-e-Mohammed commanderOsama, aPakistani, injured his two associates and snatched two AK rifles of the ultras while thwarting an attack on their house at Upper Shahdara Sharief in Kalsian area of Rajouri district last night. In the process of scuffle between civilians and militants, two brothers, who were target of the militant attack, were also injured. They have been hospitalised. Police sources and eye-witness account revealed that three militants including Jaish commander Osama knocked the house of a Gujjar Noor Ahmad son of Kaka at Upper Shahdara Sharief at 9 pm last night. They also dragged out Vakalat Hussain, Noor’s younger brother living adjacent and forced their entry inside Noor’s house. After questioning the two brothers, the militants including Osama started beating up Noor Ahmed, 46, his wife, Rashida Begum, 42 and Vakalat Hussain with sticks and rods describing them as agents of security forces.….more

Some days ago, Ex-President of Pakistan, Parvez Musharaff said that the aid provided to Pakistan by the US has been used for directing its hostile operations against India. Now, Nawaz Sherriff, PML-N Chief raised his voice about the mode and purpose of getting and utilising the foreign aid coming to Pakistan.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ( PLM-N) has blamed the Zardari Government for failing to achieve any concrete results from the ‘Friends of Democratic Pakistan’ moot. “Parking of funds for Pakistan with the World Bank is a clear sign that no country in the world is willing to trust this regime,” The Dawn quoted PML-N Central Spokesman Ahsan Iqbal, as saying.

Iqbal added that channelling funds through the World Bank would put added burden on Pakistan since it will have to pay for additional costs in the shape of expensive World Bank bureaucracy overheads.

He also said that the government was facing a ”trust mega deficit” both at home and abroad due to its lack of transparency, poor governance, and cronyism.

“Inside the country, people, opposition, and investors are increasingly getting skeptical about the government”s will and competence to deal with the challenges the country faces,” he said.

“The nation wants to know where are the 100 billion dollars which Zardari promised to bring in the country. It is a shame that the government is making Pakistan look like an international beggar,” he added.

Tribal elder, three guards killed in Bannu suicide blast

MIRAMSHAH: An anti-Taliban tribal elder and three guards were killed by a suicide car bomb on Monday in northwest Pakistan, which is reeling from a spike in deadly militant attacks, police said.

The attacker rammed a car packed with explosives into a vehicle carrying the pro-government local leader — who had condemned Taliban tactics — in a town on the edge of the lawless tribal areas where militants hold sway.

‘It was a suicide attack. The bomber sitting in a car smashed his car into the vehicle of Abdul Hakeem,’ said Bannu police official Iqbal Khan.

Hakeem and three other tribesmen who were working as his security guards were killed instantly, Khan said, while a woman passing by was also wounded.

Hakeem was a prominent anti-Taliban tribal elder and local cleric, and had recently issued a decree against the suicide bombing tactics increasingly employed by insurgents battling the government.

‘He had issued a decree against suicide bombing and the Taliban were not happy with him,’ Mohammad Iqbal Marwat, police chief of Bannu district, told AFP, confirming the incident and the death toll.

The blast struck in Bakakhel town, just on the outskirts of Bannu district, about 150 kilometres south of Peshawar.

Two suicide car bombings on Saturday left 13 people dead in Bannu town and killed 11 in Peshawar, a bloody weekend after a lull in insurgent violence following the death in August of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Taliban militants claimed responsibility for Saturday’s Bannu blast, saying they were avenging the death of Mehsud in a US drone strike, and vowed to escalate their campaign against state and security targets.

Authorities initially said 16 people had been killed in all, but the toll rose to 27 on Sunday with the discovery of more bodies in the debris of the Bannu police station and the death of some wounded, police said.

Pakistani forces made significant gains against the militants in an offensive launched in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, in late April.

The offensive helped allay international fears about the stability of the US ally after militants made advances towards the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistani officials said the Taliban were in disarray and racked by infighting after the killing of their chief, Baitullah Mehsud, in a missile strike by a pilotless US aircraft in early August.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the back of the Pakistani Taliban had been broken but the Saturday blasts appeared to have dispelled such optimism.

‘Anybody who thought that the Taliban were close to defeat or on the run had better think again,’ the News newspaper said in an editorial.

It is not just Pakistani Taliban factions that the government has to contend with but also Afghan Taliban factions operating out of its lawless northwest and creating havoc across the border in Afghanistan.

‘N O C H O I C E’

General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan, said in an assessment leaked to the media last week the Afghan insurgency was supported from Pakistan and Afghanistan needed Pakistani action.

Security analyst Mahmood Shah, a retired brigadier and former security chief in the ethnic Pashtun lands along the Afghan border, said the militants had demonstrated they can strike back.

‘They were in disarray but it appears they’ve organised themselves and they’re in a position to strike back,’ he said.

Shah said al-Qaeda could have organised the latest attacks, hoping to keep the security forces on the back foot and buy time for their Pakistani Taliban allies.

The attacks are also likely to increase calls for the army to go into the Pakistani Taliban’s South Waziristan stronghold on the Afghan border where thousands of militants are based.

The government in May ordered the military to go on the offensive in South Waziristan. Since then, regular air strikes have been launched but no ground assault has been carried out.

A senior army commander said in August it would take months to prepare for a ground offensive in South Waziristan, partly because the army lacked equipment including helicopters and night-vision equipment.

PESHAWAR: Two car bomb explosions killed at least 14 peopleand injured scores of others in the troubled northwest of Pakistan on Saturday, clear indication that insurgents have still the power and strength to strike back. An explosive-laden car, outside the Askari commercial bank, a bank affiliated with the army in Peshawar’s cantonment area, went off in peak business hours killing at least nine people and wounding around 70, police officials said. The blast was so huge that it damaged the nearby buildings and blew up more than 20 cars in the area. Shafqat Malik, the head of Peshawar police’s bomb disposal squad, told media that the blast was carried out by a suicide car bomber. He said the car was packed with about 100 kg of explosives. Seconds before the bomb went off, the suicide attacker lobbed several grenades from the car in an apparent attempt to clear his way and get closer to his target, Malik said.

Earlier in Bannu, a town adjacent to North Waziristan tribal region, a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle outside a police station, killing 6 personsand wounding around 60. Among the 60 people injured were 29 policemen and 31 civilians. Dozens of nearby shops and buildings were destroyed. The attacks came after a period of relative quite from the Taliban. Taliban militants have suffered a series of setbacks, with some of their commanders being killed or captured in recent weeks. Militants have vowed to strike back after being ousted from the Swat, Buner and Dir regions in a major military offensive by the Pakistani army. Qari Hussain, a Taliban chief trainer of suicide bombers who is known as Ustad-i-Fidayeen claimed responsibility for the Bannu attack. “The government was taking undue advantage of our silence during the month of Ramadan. We will carry out more such attacks and these will be much more powerful than the earlier ones”, said Qari Hussain. “We have enough suicide bombers and they are asking me to let them sacrifice their lives in the name of Islam”, he added. The latest strikes came two days after the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan said it was ready to stage more suicide attacks in the region after it was ousted from the Swat Valley in July by an army offensive. Bannu is gateway to North Waziristan, a volatile tribal region on the Afghan border and a major sanctuary for al-Qaida and Taliban militants fighting both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Twelve Afghan militants were killed in a missile strike by a US drone aircraft near the house of an Afghan Taliban commander allied to al-Qaida in North Waziristan late on Thursday night. Pakistani forces have also made significant gains against the militants after they launched an offensive in northwestern Swat valley in late April. The offensive in Swat valley led to an exodus of more than two million people.

Pakistan must end use of terror as state policy: Monmohan Singh

PITTSBURGH: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said Pakistan must give up the use of terrorism as a “state policy” and bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to book, as it will encourage India to “walk an extra mile” to improve ties with the neighbour.

Addressing a press conference here at the conclusion of the G20 Summit, the prime minister said enough evidence had been given to Pakistan regarding the involvement of its nationals in the Mumbai terror attacks Nov 26 last year.

“We sincerely hope they (Islamabad) would very firmly carry out the due process of investigation and bring the culprits to book. If that is carried out, we will move an extra mile to normalise our relations,” he said.

“The only obstacle is Pakistan must give up its old attitude of using terror as an instrument of state policy,” he said, adding Islamabad had also accepted that those behind the Mumbai attacks were Pakistani nationals.

Manmohan Singh said there was no change in India’s stand on Pakistan since the Sharm-el-Sheikh talks with his counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, a position he has made clear in the Indian parliament.

“If you read my statements in parliament, I have explained the government’s position and I think there is no change on this,” he said when asked how he looked forward to moving ahead with relations with Pakistan.

India and Pakistan are neighbours and they have an obligation to move as neighbours, he said.

The prime minister’s comments come ahead of a meeting in New York between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart with India expected to focus on Islamabad’s action against terror emanating from Pakistani soil.

Manmohan Singh said he did get an opportunity to speak with his host and US President Barack Obama during the G20 Summit, not in the form of a separate bilateral but in the form of exchanges while seated next to each other.

He said India has already brought to the notice of the US government that the aid being given to Pakistan to fight terrorism was being used to build military assets that could be used only against India.

“Even earlier when sophisticated weaponry was being made available by the United States to Pakistan, we have told the only country against whom these weapons can be used is India.”

India protests as US Senate votes to triple aid to Pakistan.

The aid provided to Pakistan by the US has been used for directing its hostile operations against India : Parvez Musharaff

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK: The US Senate on Thursday voted unanimously to triple non-military aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion per annum till 2014, triggering fresh concerns for India, which warned that such funds have been diverted to support hostile operations against states and needs to be monitored. ( Watch Video )

The announcement to the tripling of annual aid from $50 million to $1.5 billion was made by President Barack Obama during his address to a meeting of the ‘Friends of Democratic Pakistan’ at the UN headquarters in New York, attended by a grouping of 26 countries and international organisations.

Obama’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, called the unanimous vote on Kerry-Luger Bill “a very important step forward” for US-Pakistan ties.

“For the first time in modern era the US congress has made a multi-year commitment to Pakistan,” he said.

The Senate’s unanimous approval set the stage for action in the House of Representatives, where the measure was introduced hours later for a final vote. It will then be sent to Obama to sign it into law.

Reacting to the Senate’s passage of the bill, foreign minister S M Krishna said in New York that India was concerned about it as Islamabad had in the past diverted American aid to bolster its defences against India.

“Consider the statement that has been issued by the former president of Pakistan Musharraf himself where he has said that the aid provided to Pakistan by the US has been used for directing its hostile operations against India,” Krishna, who is participating in the opening session of United Nation General Assembly, said.

“It is that statement of President Musharraf that really bothers us,” he said, ahead of his meeting with his counterpart Hillary Clinton.

“With respect to the aid that was given to Pakistan we have brought the attention of the government of the United States that India’s concern is only that aid has to be appropriated for the purpose for which it is provided by the United States,” Krishna said, urging the US to monitor the use of the aid by Pakistan.

In its early drafts, the bill had a condition that Pakistan would not be a base for terrorist attacks against India, but now it has been replaced with a clause on cooperation with Pakistan’s neighbours on war against terror.

JAMMU, Sept 21: Even as Pakistan army violated cease-fire at seven places in Krishna Ghati and Mendhar sectors in Poonch district last mid-night with a clear aim to facilitate infiltration of militants into Indian territory, today morning their officials turned up at Chakan-Da-Bagh cross-LoC point with packets of sweets and fruits for Indian troops on the occasion of Eid.

Pakistan army officials, who came to Chakan-Da-Bagh, however, had to face a volley of questions from a selected group of reporters on violation of cease-fire and facilitation of infiltration attempts by the militants from both Line of Control (LoC) as well as International Border (IB) in Jammu.

On the IB too where Pakistan Rangers had opened firing and injured two BSF jawans at Nikowal in Pargwal island on September 17 evening and made attempt to push militants into this side, the Pakistan security officials turned up with sweets and fruits at Octroi post in Suchetgarh sector of RS Pura tehsil.

The weekly cross-LoC movement of civilians from Chakan-Da-Bagh was suspended today due to Eid celebrations. The civilians from two parts of the divided State are allowed to cross LoC every Monday for 28 days visit on a permit to each other’s territory.

Official sources told the Excelsior that Pakistan army violated cease-fire at seven places on LoC resorting to firing for about an hour between 7.20 pm to 8.20 pm at Krishna Ghati and Mendhar sector of Poonch district last night.

Sabra Gali, Lohar Gali, Sona Gali and Tata Pani posts were targeted by Pakistan army from 7.20 pm to 7.55 pm while Pathri Gali, Nangi Tekri and Balnoi posts were fired upon from 7.55 pm to 8.20 pm.

About 15 to 20 rounds were fired at all seven posts, sources said, adding it was a clear case of cease-fire violation from Pakistan army posts. Indian side, however, didn’t retaliate.

It was in Sona Gali in Mendhar sector that Pakistan army had pushed three militants into Indian territory on the intervening night of September 8 and 9. Troops had gunned down two militants and injured another while thwarting the intrusion bid. Major Akash Singh had sacrificed his life in the gun-battle.

There had been reports from all security agencies that a large number of militants had been stationed at launching pads on LoC and IB by Pakistan army and militant commanders to push them into Indian side before the onset of winter.

There were no casualties or damage in firing by Pakistan army last night, sources said, adding the firing this time too appeared to be aimed at infiltration but due to alertness of troops, the militants were not pushed from across LoC.

At 10.30 am today, the gates at Chakan-Da-Bagh Zero Line in Poonch district were opened at the request of Pakistan army which handed over sweet and fruits boxes to the troops on this side. Indian Army also reciprocated and gifted sweets and fruits to Pakistan officials to mark Eid celebrations.

Major Fahid and Major Suresh led Pakistan and Indian Army teams at Chakan-Da-Bagh.

Faced by a series of questions from a selected group of media, Major Fahid shifted blame of intrusions on the militants saying it could be the militants who resorted to firing on Indian posts.

Claiming that Pakistan army was not involved in violation of cease-fire or facilitating infiltration attempts, he asserted that the militants were even dodging Pakistan troops and could be making attempt to cross LoC by firing on Indian troops.

“Our army is engaged in fighting militants at Swat and Waziristan and was killing a number of them daily”, Major Fahid said.

However, according to sources, all recent cease-fire violations including last night’s firing at Krishna Ghati and Mendhar sectors were made by Pakistan army with a view to push militants into this side from LoC.

On IB, Pakistan Rangers led by 2nd Chenab Wing Commander Zulfikar Ali turned up at Octroi post in Suchetgarh sector in RS Pura tehsil and handed over boxes of fruits and sweets to BSF officers led by 135 battalion CO Vaneet Kumar.

On IB too, the Rangers had opened firing on a BSF post at Nikowal on September 17 injuring two BSF jawans. An attempt was made by the Rangers to push a group of militants into Indian territory from Nikowal but the bid was thwarted by the BSF jawans.

RAW H.Q.…….Himachal Pradesh…..ISI H.Q.

Dharamshala (HP): Pakistani intelligence agencies have activated their spy cells around army cantonments in Himachal Pradeshwith an aim to spread the tentacles of militancy in the state, a top army official on Wednesday said.

” Pakistan intelligence organisations have got their agents to reconnoitre our cantonments for gathering vital military intelligence. In this direction, we have arrested two Pak intelligence spies here”, General officer Commanding (GOC), 9 Corps, Lt Gen G M Nair told reporters here “They are trying to spread the militancy from J-K to Himachal Pradesh but our troops are keeping a check and intense patrolling is going on,” he said.

The terrorists and their sympathisers have taken up temporary residence in the vicinity of cantonments, he said adding Pakistan is encouraging its agencies to subvert some of our unsuspecting people.

Police have arrested a former armyman Charanjeet Singh here for spying who revealed whereabouts of a Pakistani national living here and posing as a Hindu, Nair said.

These arrests were made in last two months, he said.

“They were involved in mapping of cantonments, stations and formations besides other vital areas and passing the information to Pakistan”, the GoC said.

The investigation is on to expose these sleeper cells in HP and around the cantonments, he said adding “we have initiated a number of measures to strengthen the security of our cantonments which include construction of security walls along the perimeters and enhanced security checks”.

He said the neighbouring country is also exploiting India’s telecom network to acquire sensitive military information and asked people in the area to cooperate with the army if some stringent measures are adopted.

“This will cause inconvenience to the civilian population as well as our families who are dependant upon civil infrastructure”, he said adding “we must bear the inconvenience to ensure national security and public well being”.

Nair had yesterday said that nearly 50 to 60 militants from PoK were waiting to sneak into Jammu sector prompting the army to keep a hawk-eye vigil at the borders.

It is estimated that around 1,69,000 crores of fake rupees are in circulation all over India. Both Banks and Government are in a denial mode, because probably they do not know what to do.

India has become the victim of an other kind of terrorism from its neighbour, Pakistan. It is economic terrorism in printing and circulating counterfeit Indian notes. The Pakistani intelligence agency, ISI’s role in printing and circulation of fake Indian currency notes has never been a secret.

On its insistence, Pakistan Government has imported additional currency-standard printing paper from companies located in London to pursue its nefarious designs in India. Of late, Pakistan has been procuring currency-standard printing paper in huge quantities from London-based companies much higher than normal requirement of the country for printing its own currency. It is diverting it, to print fake Indian currency notes. It is believed that Pakistan Government printing press in Quetta (Baluchistan) Karachi’s security press, and two other presses in Lahore and Peshawar, are being used to print out counterfeit Indian currency.

The ISI has, been using Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to transport counterfeit currency to its conduits in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The modus operandi of the ISI was revealed by two Nepali counterfeit currency traffickers who were arrested by Thailand police sometimes back. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that they were working for a prominent Nepali businessman. The fact that Nepali territory is being used by Pakistanis to smuggle counterfeit currency is well known. The first such expose was made when Pakistani diplomats were caught distributing fake Indian currency notes. One Naushad Alam Khan, arrested in Dhaka on April 24, 2008, with fake Indian currency notes worth Rs 50 lakh admitted his direct link with HuJI (Bangladesh) chief Mufti Abdul Hannan. It was found that both Khan and Hannan had fought for Taliban in Afghanistan.

Fake Indian currency notes racket is being carried out by using the network of underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim, not only in India but also in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal in close association with different terror outfits, according to one intelligence report. With Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh being active partners, with India in probing fake Indian currency notes (FICN) related cases, it is safe to assume that so far as the fake currency in India is concerned, its source is Pakistan.

Delhi police claims, to have busted a major ISI network, sometimes back, which was reportedly being used to pushing fake currency into our country. Three arrested men, by name, Nayeem, Wasim and Mohammed Muslim, have revealed that Thar Express, so called, friendship train, running between Munnabao in Pakistan and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, was being used to smuggle fake currency into India . Investigation, uncovered, that the fake currency was arranged in Dubai. Fake currency to the extent of Rs 33 lakh was seized from them. They have confirmed that the Indian currency is printed in Pakistan and illegally pushed in India through Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.

The menace of finely printed currency has achieved new heights, that quite often, the customers do get fake currencies through ATMs. The worst is that when they approach banks with the complain of receiving a fake note, bank official impound the notes. As per the law of land, the bank should lodge an FIR with police, which would investigate the source of the fake currency. Banks obviously have not been to cope with the problem.

According to one Government committee estimate, counterfeit currency amounting to Rs 169,000 crore is floating around in the Indian financial system. This has been denied by the Reserve Bank of India. From real estate transactions to ordinary grocery shopping, paying to sources and terrorist’s expenses, these bogus notes are being used. Even if this figure is taken 20 to 25 per cent, as correct, it is still a huge amount, and sufficient to damage India’s economy. “In 2008, the CBI registered 13 cases having international/ inter-State ramifications relating to the recovery/ seizure of fake Indian currency notes,”

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), between January and August 2008, 1,170 cases had been registered across the country in connection with fake currency. Bogus notes with a face value of Rs 3.63 crore had been seized. NCRB data shows 2,204 such cases were reported in 2007.

Investigations into the Mumbai 26/11 attacks have revealed that a large part of the money to fund the terror operation were obtained through fake currency rackets and hawala channels.

It is also believed that Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence raises Rs 1,800 crore (Rs 18 billion) annually to fund terror operations and that a major chunk of this amount comes in through fake currency rackets.

Intelligence sources believe that Rs 30 lakh of the Rs 50 lakh spent, on the attack on the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, in December 2005 was obtained through the fake currency racket. This is big menace, which should be tackled with no holds barred, even if it means walking with the devil till we have decimated this problem.

Fake currency and its linkage with crime

It is rightly said, that the poor of the world, cannot be made richer by redistribution of wealth. But, there are some, who seek a short cut, to riches through crime and use of counterfeit currency. Criminals believe, that whatever is worth doing is worth doing for the money. Nevertheless, the truth is that the wealth is the product of industry, ambition, character and untiring effort. The Special Task Force, (STF) of Uttar Pradesh, last year claimed to have busted a major international racket involved, in supply of fake currency notes.

It seized counterfeit Indian currency worth a face value of Rs 16 lakh. The gang leader, arrested in Lucknow with three of his aides, has confessed to have pumped into circulation over Rs 2 crore in counterfeit currency in India in about two months. The gang members arrested have been identified as Suhail Singh alias Ram Shanker Singh of Sikahira locality under Khodare police station of Gonda-the gang leader-along with Sharma Paswan, Vinod Kumar Misra and Sanjay Kumar Patel, all natives of Champaran in Bihar.

The gang was using a set of six women couriers from Champaran in Bihar and another set of four hailing from Nepal. The fake currency notes had a different serial number. It showed, that they had not merely been printed from a scanned image of a genuine note by using coloured scanners and printers. In case the miscreants scan a genuine note and print copies of it, the serial number of such counterfeit currency notes remain the same. Putting a different serial number on each note explains that the counterfeit currency was being printed at a very large scale.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that the counterfeit currency notes travelled to Uttar Pradesh from Nepal from two different routes: From Nepal to UP via Bihar and directly to UP particularly through Sidhartnagar and Maharajganj route. A Rs 1,000 denomination note was bought at the rate of Rs 500 to Rs 600 each while the Rs 500 denomination was bought for Rs 300 to Rs 400 each.

According to the accused, counterfeit currency notes of smaller denomination-like those of Rs 100 and Rs 50, were also available, but at a higher cost, as compared to the bigger denominations. The reason given was that putting the bigger notes into circulation was more risky. The gang used private vehicles to cross the Nepal borders while the rest of the movement was done preferably on public transport. To minimise suspicion, women couriers, particularly those with young children, were preferred to carry the counterfeit currency notes within India and were paid two per cent of the total face value of the counterfeit notes. A male shadow was also used to trail the couriers to ensure that they were not trapped by the police.

It is estimated that around 1,69,000 crores of fake rupees are in circulation all over India. Both Banks and Government are in a denial mode, because probably they do not know what to do.